Financial Infidelity Divorce Attorney in Dallas, TX

When a couple gets married, they typically expect complete honesty and trust in their relationship. Unfortunately, a married person may discover that their spouse has engaged in “financial infidelity” by concealing information about their financial circumstances or by spending marital funds without their knowledge or consent. When a spouse intentionally deceives their other spouse about money, they may cause an emotional strain too severe for the marriage to survive, leading to a divorce.

Financial infidelity can have significant consequences on the outcome of a divorce proceeding, especially when a spouse continues to hide money, property, or information from their spouse or the court. As a result, when your spouse has engaged in financial infidelity, having experienced legal representation can best protect your financial rights and interests. Contact Balekian Hayes, PLLC, for an initial case evaluation with a financial infidelity divorce attorney in Dallas, TX, to learn more about the implications of financial infidelity and divorce.

What Constitutes Financial Infidelity?

Financial infidelity in a marriage occurs when one spouse engages in dishonesty with money. When one spouse tries to deceive the other concerning financial affairs, it can irreparably damage trust and affection in a marriage, leading couples to get divorced. An individual who becomes the victim of their spouse’s financial infidelity may feel just as hurt as if their spouse engaged in emotional or physical infidelity, as financial infidelity can demonstrate a lack of trust and also jeopardize the other spouse’s finances.

Some common examples of financial infidelity include:

• Concealing debts incurred during the marriage without the other spouse’s knowledge or concern
• Hiding assets, including by putting money in separate accounts or placing assets in offshore trusts
• Hiding bills or account statements mailed to the family home
• Claiming that one purchased specific assets before the marriage when they actually acquired them during the marriage
• Lying about how one used marital funds, including money in a joint bank account or a joint credit card
• Covertly withdrawing money from joint bank accounts 
• Spending money on high-value items, especially with marital funds, without consulting one’s spouse
• Keeping financial secrets, such as the existence of significant separate assets, inheritance, or exclusive gifts, or lying about one’s annual income

Financial infidelity may also occur in tandem with sexual infidelity, as a spouse may spend money on intimate relationships outside the marriage, including on dinners, hotel rooms, gifts, or vacations.

How Financial Infidelity Impacts Divorce Proceedings in Texas

Financial infidelity can affect a divorce proceeding in Texas in various ways. First, financial infidelity that occurred before or during the marriage may lead to the invalidation of a couple’s prenuptial or postnuptial agreement. Courts may uphold prenuptial and postnuptial agreements when couples make complete and accurate financial disclosures to one another. However, concealing the existence of assets or debts or mischaracterizing one’s economic circumstances may give a court grounds to refuse to enforce a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement during a divorce proceeding.

Financial infidelity can also affect divorce proceedings when a spouse continues to deceive the other spouse and the court about their financial circumstances. Spouses in a divorce case must disclose their finances to ensure the court can resolve economic issues like property division, alimony, and child support. However, a spouse may continue to hide the existence of assets or mischaracterize marital assets as separate property. False or misleading financial disclosures during a divorce proceeding can affect the court’s decisions regarding property division, spousal support/alimony, and child support. 

When a court finds that a spouse has concealed assets or made false or misleading statements about their finances during a divorce proceeding, the court may order various kinds of relief for the other spouse. These may include ordering the spouse who concealed assets to pay the legal costs of the other spouse incurred to uncover the hidden assets, or making a more favorable property division or spousal support decision for the other spouse. Concealing financial information during a divorce case to reduce one’s child support obligations can also affect the court’s custody determination. The court may view efforts to shirk financial responsibility for children as indicative of a lack of reliability or responsibility that might counsel against awarding shared custody or parenting time. 

Forensic Accounting in Divorce Cases

When financial infidelity occurs during a marriage or a divorce proceeding, the other spouse may need to retain forensic accounting experts to uncover the assets or financial information that their spouse has concealed. A forensic accountant can use bank statements and other records to locate hidden assets and trace them back to the marital estate or to the spouse who tried to conceal them, allowing the court to consider those assets when deciding property division, alimony, or child support. Forensic accountants can also uncover other concealed information and reconstruct different aspects of a spouse’s finances, such as income or debts.

Why You Need a Specialized Financial Infidelity Divorce Attorney in Dallas

If you’ve discovered evidence that your spouse has concealed money, assets, or financial information during your marriage, you need experienced legal counsel from a high-asset divorce lawyer. A divorce attorney can help you protect yourself and pursue a favorable resolution to your divorce case by:

• Thoroughly investigating suspected financial infidelity by your spouse, including gathering records that can provide evidence of your spouse’s efforts to conceal assets, money, spending, or debts
• Evaluating your legal options to respond to your spouse’s financial infidelity, such as seeking to overturn a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement or pursuing a more favorable ruling on economic issues in your divorce case
• Working with forensic accountants when needed to track down money or assets hidden by your spouse
• Vigorously advocating on your behalf in court to demand accountability and relief for your spouse’s financial infidelity

Contact Our Experienced Dallas Financial Infidelity Divorce Attorneys

If your spouse has engaged in deceitful behavior regarding finances during your marriage, their conduct can have substantial effects on your rights and interests if you decide to get divorced. Contact Balekian Hayes, PLLC, today for a confidential consultation with a high-net-worth divorce lawyer to learn more about the risks and consequences of financial infidelity and how it can affect a divorce proceeding in Dallas.